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18 Jul 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on Middle East and North Africa Democracy
NPWJ press release
Iraq – European Parliament: Presentation of new joint report by NPWJ, UNPO, IILHR and MRG on the situation of minorities since the fall of Mosul
by NPWJ, 14 Jul 2016
On Thursday 14 July 2016, the new joint report by by No Peace Without Justice, the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, Institute for International Law and Human Rights and Minority Rights Group International on the situation of minorities in Iraq, will be presented at the D-IQ (Delegation for relations with Iraq) meeting at the European Parliament, from 9:00 to 10:30 (room A5E-2). The presentation will be delivered by Alison Smith, Legal Counsel and Director of the International Criminal Justice Programme of No Peace Without Justice, and William Spencer, Executive Director of the Institute for International Law and Human Rights.
The meeting will be webstreamed and can be followed live at:
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/ep-live/en/other-events/video?event=20160714-0900-SPECIAL-UNKN
"No Way Home: Iraq’s Minorities on the Verge of Disappearance" documents how tens of thousands of persons belonging to Iraq’s ethnic and religious minorities have been murdered, maimed or abducted, including unknown numbers of women and girls forced into marriage or sexual enslavement, after the fall of Mosul in June 2014. The report (which covers the period from the fall of Mosul in June 2014 to February of this year) is based on extensive interviews and field research and is a follow-up report to "Between the Millstones: The State of Iraq’s Minorities Since the Fall of Mosul", published in February 2015.
Bahrain: 26 NGOs call for immediate and unconditional release of Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, prior to his trial tomorrow
by NPWJ, 11 Jul 2016
Tomorrow, 12 July 2016, the trial of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab begins. Facing charges related to comments on the social media website Twitter, Rajab may be sentenced to more than ten years in prison. We, the undersigned NGOs, hold the government of Bahrain responsible for the deterioration of Rajab’s health due to poor detention conditions. We call on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Rajab, and to drop all charges against him. Rajab is a leading Bahraini human rights defender, well known in the region - and worldwide - for his defense of human rights, and his efforts towards more freedom for all. As a result of his work he has been repeatedly jailed. He is the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Founding Director of the regional Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and is also on the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division.
Articles
Pressure mounts in Aleppo after supply line cut
by Aljazeera, 18 Jul 2016
Aleppo, Syria - Castello Road is rebel-held eastern Aleppo's lifeline. As the only supply route into the embattled part of Syria's largest city, it plays a crucial role in ensuring that residents of Aleppo, who are largely dependent on outside aid, can receive food, medical items and other essentials. But after government forces recently cut off the route and attempts by opposition fighters to reopen it failed, residents of Aleppo have found themselves under increasing pressure. "Castello Road is important because it's the only way to get food into the city, and there are no good work opportunities," local merchant Ahmed Hamsho told Al Jazeera. Hamsho and other residents of eastern Aleppo have complained of predatory price hikes since the access road was cut off. "The prices rose because of insufficient supplies and the monopoly sellers have on food. They're taking advantage of the siege and selling at obscene prices," Hamsho said. "We have no control over this." Prices of staple foods, gas and other products have skyrocketed as aid organisations struggle to reach the city. Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues throughout the area.
Bahrain dissolves main Shia opposition Al-Wefaq party
by Al Jazeera, 17 Jul 2016
A court in Bahrain dissolved the main Shia opposition group Al-Wefaq on Sunday, accusing it of helping to foster violence and "terrorism" in the island kingdom. The ruling comes amid an increasing crackdown on opposition figures in the Sunni-led, Shia-majority Gulf monarchy, which in 2011 crushed a large pro-democracy protest movement. Al-Wefaq was shut down last month under an emergency court order after the Justice Ministry accused it of undermining the state, spreading sectarianism, and having connections to "terrorist" activities. The official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said the court ruled that Al-Wefaq had taken aim at the "respect for the rule of law and the foundations of citizenship based on coexistence, tolerance and respect for others; provided an atmosphere for the incubation of terrorism, extremism and violence and for foreign interference in national affairs".
TURKISH DETENTIONS OF MILITARY, JUDICIARY REACH 6,000
by Reuters, 17 Jul 2016
Turkey widened a crackdown on suspected supporters of a failed military coup on Sunday, taking the number of people rounded up in the armed forces and judiciary to 6,000, and the government said it was in control of the country and economy. President Tayyip Erdogan and the government accused the U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally whom Erdogan accuses of trying to create a "parallel structure" within the courts, police, armed forces and media, of orchestrating the coup. Erdogan's supporters of gathered in front of his Istanbul home to call for the plotters to face the death penalty, which Turkey outlawed in 2004 as part of its efforts to join the European Union. "We cannot ignore this demand," Erdogan told the chanting crowd. "In democracies, whatever the people say has to happen." He said a "terror group" led by Gulen had "ruined" the armed forces, that its members were being arrested in all military ranks, and that a purge of this "virus" would continue. Gulen denied any connection with the coup.
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Israel seeks to 'publicly shame' human rights groups
by Aljazeera, 17 Jul 2016
Nazareth, Israel - The Israeli government stands accused of waging a campaign of incitement against human rights groups as it tries to hamper efforts by the international community to monitor abuses of Palestinians under occupation. A so-called Transparency Law, passed by the Israeli parliament last week, compels some two dozen Israeli rights organisations to declare publicly that they receive a majority of their funding from foreign governments. In future, they will have to divulge such funding - mostly from individual European states or the European Union - every time they appear in the media, issue publicity material, make statements online, and deal with official bodies. Failure to do so will incur a substantial fine. The legislation's aim, peace activists argue, is to vilify these groups with the Israeli public, suggesting they are "foreign agents" and "traitors" seeking to subvert Israel's security and its national interests. Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, said the human rights community was being "publicly shamed".
Uganda: Museveni Opposes Arms Embargo On South Sudan
by allAfrica, 16 Jul 2016
President Yoweri Museveni and United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki Moon have discussed the conflict in South Sudan, with the two leaders pushing for a strong message to the warring factions. Museveni however disagreed with a UN proposal to impose an arms embargo saying this would create a vacuum and plunge the newest nation in the world into further chaos like was the case in Somalia. "I don't agree with the proposal on the arms embargo. What is happening in South Sudan is sectarian politics where one partisan community is fighting the other. When you impose an embargo on South Sudan you destroy the local force on which you need to build a strong integrated army," Museveni told Ban Ki Moon at the meeting in Kigali. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the ongoing African Union (AU) summit in Kigali where they discussed the UN Secretary Generals' proposals to the United Nations Security Council. Ban Ki Moon proposed to send a strong message to the warring factions in South Sudan by imposing an arms embargo, sanctions on the people responsible for the violence and fortifying and strengthening the UN mission in the country.
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